March 28, 2021 - 1:04 PM
KALISPELL, Mont. - In 1988, the renowned grizzly bear biologist Tim Manley was working as a research assistant on the South Fork Flathead River, trying to devise a reliable method for counting grizzlies in the dense and mountainous terrain of the Northern Continental Divide. More than a decade had passed since the species was federally protected in 1975, and a critical piece of the recovery puzzle remained missing: What is an accurate baseline population for grizzlies?